In the eleventh century, in Persia, there lived a mathematician named Ghiyathuddin Abulfath Omar bin Ibrahim al-Khayyami--or, Omar, son of Abraham, the tent-maker. Omar wrote poetry, and while his rhymes received little attention in their day, they were rediscovered and translated into beautiful English--more than seven centuries later--by a gentleman and scholar named Edward FitzGerald. It was a meeting of minds, a great collaboration of the past and the present, and FitzGerald's rendition of those passionate verses has become one of the best loved poem cycles in the English language. With their concern for the here and now, as opposed to the hereafter, Omar Khayyam's quatrains are as romantic today as they were hundreds of years ago; they are a tribute to the power of one moment's pleasure over a lifetime of sorrow, of desire over the vicissitudes of time. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, presented here with Edward FitzGerald's original preface, is truly a classic, and it will stand forever as one of our finest monuments to love.

Oh, come with old Khayy m, and leave the WiseTo talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;The Flower than once has blown for ever dies.-XXVIThough it's difficult to imagine, these 12th-century stanzas-oft quoted and frequently looked to for inspiration by those seeking to live life to the fullest-did not come to the public's attention until Edward FitzGerald published them in English in 1859... and even then they were ignored until the painter Dante Rossetti discovered a remaindered copy two years later and excitedly spread news of it around his intellectual and artistic circles.Not a direct translation, these liberal interpretations make Khayy m's verse accessible to readers in the English language. Several editions of FitzGerald's work are included in this volume, allowing the reader multiple approaches to their wisdom and beauty.Persian astronomer and poet OMAR KHAYY M (1048-1131) also authored works on music and mathematics.British poet and translator EDWARD FITZGERALD (1809-1883) also wrote Polonius: A Collection of Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1852) and translated from the Spanish Six Dramas of Pedro Caulderon (1853).

Omar Khayyam was born at Naishapur in Khorassan in the latter half of our Eleventh, and died within the First Quarter of our Twelfth Century. The Slender Story of his Life is curiously twined about that of two other very considerable Figures in their Time and Country: one of whom tells the Story of all Three. This was Nizam ul Mulk, Vizier to Alp Arslan the Son, and Malik Shah the Grandson, of Toghrul Beg the Tartar, who had wrested Persia from the feeble Successor of Mahmud the Great, and founded that Seljukian Dynasty which finally roused Europe into the Crusades.

Edward FitzGerald gave the title The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam to his translation of poetry attributed to the Persian poet, astronomer and mathematician Omar Khayyam (1048-1123). The word "Rubaiyat" means quatrains - verses of four lines. These works by Fitzgerald are the best known English translations. This edition contains both the first and fifth editions of the Rubaiyat. This influential translation is seen by many as a zenith of English literature in the nineteenth century. Fitzgerald states that his translation "will interest you from its form, and also in many respects in its detail: very unliteral as it is. Many quatrains are mashed together: and something lost, I doubt, of Omar's simplicity, which is so much a virtue in him." And, "I suppose very few People have ever taken such Pains in Translation as I have: though certainly not to be literal. But at all Cost, a Thing must live: with a transfusion of one's own worse Life if one can't retain the Original's better. Better a live Sparrow than a stuffed Eagle."

8x10 edition. All 114 quatrains are presented via a merge of the first four editions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward FitzGerald, and illustrated and arranged by Austin P. Torney.The 80+ illustrations, all in color, are a mixture of ancient and modern styles, ranging from Austin's own nature compositions to his enhancement of engravings and drawings obtained from very old books. New sections added on a transmogrification story, a poetic tribute to Omar Khayyam, the Titanic's 'Great Omar' story, colorizations of Edmund Sullivan's b/w illustrations, a new calendar, and more.Austin has also written and published his own invention of about 650 quatrains in 'Austin's Rubaiyat'.This publication celebrates the nearly two hundred years since Edward FitzGerald was born.

This book describes a phenomenon unique in publishing history -- a book of poetry, published anonymously nearly 150 years ago -- purporting to be the translation of an 11th century Persian work -- which has remained almost continuously in print and stimulated at least 130 illustrators attempting to illuminate the verses it contains. The poetry in question is Edward FitzGerald's version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Khayyam was a mathematician, astronomer and philosopher in 11th century Persia. Edward FitzGerald was first introduced to Khayyam's verses in the original Persian in 1859. Since then, there have been many hundreds of separate editions and reissues of the Rubaiyat, including many further translations of FitzGerald's work into other languages. Today, FitzGerald's Rubaiyat is one of the most universally known of all poems. It is also probably the most widely illustrated of all literary works. William Martin and Sandra Mason have produced the first serious attempt to examine the illustrated editions in detail. The authors tell the extraordinary story of the popularity of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat, and looks at how different illustrators have approached the task of interpreting the individual themes and topics of the fascinating poem. Although the book focuses on one literary work, it provides a history of the changes in book illustration, mostly in Britain and America, over the past century and a half. With some 300 color illustrations and covering the work of over 100 artists, it also provides detailed documentation on the illustrators and a bibliography of the illustrated version of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat. This will prove a unique reference tool for collectors and bibliographers.

Thus Spoke Khayyam: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is a new translation that offers a wide-ranging view of many topics, including the philosophy of how to make sense of one's place in the world and also of one's relationship to it. Omar Khayyam also talks about Cosmos as a whole, and gives a profound understanding, and wisdom of life, which bring us to a centre of a direct contact to it . Khayyam's passion for life and living, enjoying the moment, drawing our attention to the present moment, apart from this two forces of past and future was his main aim. Thus Spoke Khayyam offers a new and unique translation of some of the verses of Omar Khayyam that explore life philosophies and encourage the reader to dig deeper into their minds and hearts and discover the secrets held within.

"...a small, beautifully produced book, that is a perfect gift to oneself or to another. Each excerpt, which is coupled with a lovely and delicate scene from nature, is indeed a treasure consisting of maybe only a sentence or two, yet they are words enough to take one to a very deep place..". -- New Age Retailer, National Review Network Here are some of the most insightful thoughts from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained (a commentary on the classic poem) placed in a thought-a-page layout that allows reflection on the simplicity, depth and practicality of each saying. Perfect for private contemplation or as a gift any friend would treasure, each illustrated excerpt is a refreshing, uplifting, immediately helpful thought. A must for anyone seeking inspiration and self-discovery.

A work of staggering poetic beauty that has inspired the likes of John Ruskin, T. S. Eliot, and Robert Bly, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was written in eleventh-century Persia and was largely unknown in the West until it was translated into English by Edward FitzGerald in 1859. In FitzGerald's hands, the individual Persian quatrains of the original coalesced into one of the most moving and often-cited modern poetic statements about loss, longing, and nostalgia. As Robert D. Richardson notes, The Rubaiyat is startlingly modern in its outlook and composition, and through it, one civilization speaks to another as equals and across a gap of almost a thousand years. Annotated by Richardson and illustrated beautifully with the elegant watercolors of Lincoln Perry, this edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam will bring this affirmed classic to a new generation of readers. It is the perfect complement to Richardson's “biography” of The Rubaiyat, Nearer to the Heart's Desire.

Since leaving his homeland after the Iranian revolution in 1979, Kuros Amouzgar witnessed his children and many other second generation Iranians who were eager to learn more about their own heritage, but who were unable to read the language of their parents. He decided to use the quatrains of Omar Khayyam as a vehicle to introduce a small section of Persian literature, philosophy and culture to his children and grandchildren's generation. Khayyam's poems are well-known both in the Persian original and in the English speaking world through the translations of Edward FitzGerald. Unfortunately, for the student, FitzGerald's literary and inspirational poem are not exact translations of the Persian. In this volume, each poem is presented in the original Persian in both the Persian and Latin alphabet. In addition a literal translation and the corresponding poetic translation by FitzGerald are given. The more difficult terms are further explained. Also included is a Persian-English glossary.